O'Keefe's San Antonio Election Fraud report raises many more questions than answers

"Do not remove the ancient landmark,
Nor enter the fields of the fatherless;"
Proverbs 23:10

Ahem?!?

Highlights:

• Racquel Rodriguez working for Mauro Garza.
• Republican candidate for U.S. House in the District currently represented by Democrat Joaquin Castro.
• Note: West side of San Antonio. 

• Project Veritas paid her $500 to tag along.

• If the first woman she visited was voting for Lloyd Doggett (CD-35), why is someone working in the Castro/Garza district (CD-20) even talking to her?!?

• Rodriguez confesses to several known illegalities.

• Unidentified third party was filling out mail in ballots on behalf of the dead.

• "Mauro allowed me $2500 to buy gifts."

• What kind of IDIOT do you have to be to discuss any of this in a text message?!?

• If James O'Keefe thinks there's anything "new" about the "normal" of shady election practices in Texas, he needs to learn more about Lyndon Johnson.

Wow.

We should probably start out with a disclosure: We've met Mauro Garza a couple times.  Don't know him well, but we have met.  He's always struck this author as a bit of a patriotic simpleton. Certainly didn't see this coming.

Suffice to say: At a minimum, Racquel Rodriguez must be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. To the extent that he had foreknowledge of her activities, Mauro Garza certainly should as well. Whether or not the Bexar county DA chooses to prosecute is another matter entirely.

That being said, the whole thing is bizarre. With some voters, she's helping them vote straight Democrat. With others, she wants them to vote Republican. Sometimes she's trying to faithfully execute the voter's choice, others she's actively trying to influence voters. Just odd.

Unfortunately, we now know (not that there was much doubt previously) why THE REPUBLICANS killed the election integrity bills last session. No, really, bang up job Stephanie Klick. You too Valoree Swanson.

Even if it doesn't always break down into a neat partisan narrative, the process as a whole couldn't be less trustworthy.

Bottom Line: There's a lot we don't know, but none of what we do know looks good.

#TXLEGE: Tinderholt recognizes the obvious as Klick continues to stonewall

"He who covers his sins will not prosper,
But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy."
Proverbs 28:13

Hoo boy:

Bottom Line: Drip, drip, drip....

#TXLEGE: Stephanie Klick is playing with FIRE

"He who covers his sins will not prosper,
But whoever confesses and forsakes them will have mercy."
Proverbs 28:13

Not good:

Thirty Republican members publicly called for an in person caucus meeting (many more agree now) and the small in numbers Team Bonnen is doing everything they can to avoid it. They are desperate. #txlege pic.twitter.com/iN2h4g93gD

— Jonathan Stickland (@RepStickland) August 26, 2019

Bottom Line: An in-person caucus meeting *might* have been an opportunity to begin putting this scandal in the rear-view mirror. Apparently, that's not happening. Drip, drip, drip....

#TXLEGE: house Republicans belatedly recognize their own political self interest

"Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time,"
1 Peter 5:6

That's quite the Friday Afternoon Document Dump:

House Republican caucus meeting request by Cahnman on Scribd

Bottom Line: This should have been done a month ago, but better late than never....

#TXLEGE: 2015 Turner supporters who got committee chairs suffered biggest dropoff

"If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."
1 John 1:8

[Note: Jeremy Kitchen created a spreadsheet with information about how legislators scored on various indexes.  We consulted it extensively preparing this post.  Due to formating issues, it's easier to discuss conclusions without extensive cutting and pasting.  But we plug it heavily and you can view it for yourself here.]

With Empower Texans' index out, session to session comparisons are now appropriate.

Among the biggest dropoffs: Jeff Leach (-32), Dustin Burrows (-28), and Stephanie Klick (-20).

[Note: Scott Sanford was also a -26, but he's likely to be the subject of another blog post.]

What traits do the three members listed above share?!?  Two sessions ago, all three voted for Scott Turner for Speaker.  This past session, they were committee chairs.

Indeed, they were the reason why we were initially hopeful over Bonnen's committee assignments.

[Note: LOL on what we said about Leach and Klick here.]

One conclusion is obvious: We thought the committee chairs in question would change the house.  Instead, becoming committee chairs changed those members.  Sadly.

The borg adapts, you will be assimilated.

Bottom Line: It just is what it is (but what it is isn't good)....

#TXLEGE: Some subtle, positive, signs from Bonnen

"When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice;
But when a wicked man rules, the people groan."
Proverbs 29:2

Nobody's surprised Dennis Bonnen was elected speaker yesterday, but a couple moves he made shortly thereafter were very interesting.

First, did you notice who's sat behind Bonnen as he gave his acceptance speech?!?

Jeff Leach and Stephanie Klick.

If Jeff Leach and Stephanie Klick were invited to sit behind the speaker as he addressed the body, that means conservatives are no longer shut out of the speaker's office.  It doesn't necessarily mean we get everything we want.  But it does mean we're no longer being artificially shut out.

After the House adjourned, Bonnen then attended Ken Paxton's swearing in ceremony (as the picture above attests).

It wasn't anything Bonnen said or did at the Paxton event...but the fact that he was there spoke volumes.

Put differently: Can you imagine Dennis Bonnen's predecessor showing up at a Ken Paxton event?!?

Subtle, but huge.

Bottom Line:  A lot of work remains...but for the first time in a long time it looks like that work might not be pointless.

#TXLEGE: How to EXPAND FREEDOM and Lower Health Care costs (even with more D's)....

"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,"
Ephesians 3:20

One of the realities imposed by Tuesday is that we're going to have to get creative.  This afternoon, TPPF's discussion "Empowering Advanced RN's can save Texas lives" offers one such possibility.  Scope-of-practice reform.

The short version of scope of practice reform is that not every medical issue needs to be treated by a licensed physician; we wrote a longer description last February:

Texas currently has a shortage of health care providers across the state. 36 counties have zero physicians. 80 counties have five physicians or fewer. While this is often a problem in rural areas, there are parts of the cities that aren't much better. East Austin and East Houston are the two most obvious examples.

Given the geographically dispersed nature of the issue, a broad based coalition is emerging to promote "scope of practice" reform. TPPF has been joined by the AARP and the left-leaning Center for Public Policy Priorities. The proposed reforms would enable nurse practitioners to perform many functions currently limited to licensed physicians.

Supporters made fairly standard free-market arguments in favor of the reforms. Fewer regulations will mean more providers. More providers means more competition which means more options at lower prices for health care consumers.

This is an interesting issue for next session.   As we made clear back in February, and as today's event reinforced, there's support for this across the political spectrum.  Therein lies opportunity.

Several months ago we spoke with a senior Democrat in the Texas house.  She expressed support.  Given the reality of vote totals next session, that's worth considering.  In some communities, increasing the supply of medical providers is literally a lifeline.

It's worth noting, though it might not mean much, that the Texas "Medical" Association representative on today's panel was less obstinate than members of that organization we've seen discuss this issue previously.

Finally, from a macro-political perspective: If we want to cut off support for a Bernie Sanders style single payer/medicare for all type proposal, we really ought to start taking modest steps taking

Bottom Line: If you can take a modest, but tangible, step to lower health care costs, you should.  That's especially true next session.  Scope-of-practice reform is a lower profile issue, but it's one that could be powerful.

85th #TXLEGE: Dismemberment Abortion ban filed today....

"And they built the high places of Baal which are in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, to cause their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire to Molech, which I did not command them, nor did it come into My mind that they should do this abomination, to cause Judah to sin."
Jeremiah 32:35

Dismemberment abortion is a particularly gruesome form of partial birth abortion whose occurrence in Texas was brought to light two summers ago; via Texas Right to Life:

Austin, Texas—January 5, 2017: State Senator Charles Perry (R-Lubbock) and Representative Stephanie Klick (R-Fort Worth) filed the major Pro-Life bill for the 85th Session of the Texas Legislature, the Dismemberment Abortion Ban. Senator Perry and Representative Klick have both achieved high rankings as Pro-Life legislators and are capable bill authors. The legislation will ban the torturous practice of dismemberment abortion, a procedure that ends the life of an unborn child by removing his or her limbs while his or her heart is still beating.

Texas Right to Life, the oldest and largest statewide Pro-Life organization in Texas, stands with Senator Perry and Representative Klick in prioritizing the Dismemberment Abortion Ban. Elizabeth Graham, Director of Texas Right to Life, insists that the Dismemberment Abortion Ban must reach the governor’s desk this year:

The Dismemberment Abortion Ban is the only Pro-Life measure filed that will actually stop abortion and protect pregnant women and their children. Other bills offer life-affirming nuances, but SB 415 and the companion, HB 844, directly save lives while addressing the criminal activity of the abortion industry documented over the last two years.

....

When the Dismemberment Abortion Ban measure was overwhelmingly adopted in the 2016 Republican Party Platform, Pro-Lifers and activists signaled to statewide leadership that they will not be satisfied with symbolic “life”-sounding legislation that regulates what happens to the victims of abortion after their deaths. Further, this ban earned the most support among the Pro-Life policy planks when delegates to the Republican Convention voted plank by plank.

 Kudos to Charles Perry and Stephanie Klick, read the whole thing here.

The Conservative Reps assess the 84th #TXLEGE

"When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice;
But when a wicked man rules, the people groan."
Proverbs 29:2

Five conservative Reps recapped the session at the NE Tarrant Tea Party last week:



Highlights:

• Klick - Worked on advance directives bill.

• Krause - Floor amendment on judicial bypass.
• Decriminalization commission.

• Tinderholt - Human trafficking amendment on Border Security bill.
• Killed texting while driving ban!!!
• Senate pushed some of his stuff through.

• Rinaldi - Better than previous sessions, but that's not saying much.
• Conservative Senate and Lite Gov was key.
• Modest progress on border.
• Good budget.
• No raid on RDF.
• Modest progress on taxes.
• Decent progress on pro-life.
• Passed watered down campus carry bill.
• Stripped authority from Travis Cty. DA.
• Killed a lot of terrible legislation.

• Stickland - Knocked 48 bills off local and consent.
• "I never thought I would vote for a budget."
• HB 13 -- Joe Pickett killed his own bill to preserve Red-light cameras.
• "We didn't address illegal immigration at all."
• Byron Cook killed pro-life bill, hijacked ethics bill.
• Am. Laws for Am. Courts: "Should have been a slam dunk."
• Constitutional carry never got a hearing.
• "Every single inch we got we fought for tooth and nail."
• House leadership micromanaged process to run out of time.